March 22nd, 2011

Foul Mdammas (Foul Mudammas) is very popular dish served for breakfast or any meal of the day. In Syria, we prepare Foul Mdammas in two ways and they are Foul Mdammas Bez-Zeit (fava beans with olive oil) and Foul Mdammas Bel-Laban (Fava beans with yogurt), I’ll share both recipes in this post.

Let’s make Foul Mdammas:

1, 2. Measure 740 g unpeeled fava beans (read notes).

3. Add fava beans in a pot, and cover with water, turn on heat and keep on high heat until boiling, then add salt and lower heat and keep until beans are cooked and tender (do not overcook, you do not want mushy beans), then turn off heat.

4. Use slotted spoon and transfer the fava beans into a bowl and save the cooking water because we will need it later.
Now measure the weight of fava beans after cooking, and divide them into two parts. The weight I got after cooking was 890 g of fava beans so I divided them into one bowl with 380 g fava beans and the other bowl with 510 g fava beans (whatever weight you get, so divide them into two parts, one is more than the other). I will use the 380 g to make Foul Mdammas Bez-Zeit, and the 510 g to make Foul Mdammas Bel-Laban.

Add fava beans in a pot, and cover with water, turn on heat and keep on high heat until boiling, then add salt and lower heat and keep until beans are cooked and tender (do not overcook, you do not want mushy beans), then turn off heat.

Use slotted spoon and transfer the fava beans into a bowl and save the cooking water because we will need it later.
Now measure the weight of fava beans after cooking, and divide them into two parts. The weight I got after cooking was 890 g of fava beans so I divided them into one bowl with 380 g fava beans and the other bowl with 510 g fava beans (whatever weight you get, so divide them into two parts, one is more than the other). I will use the 380 g to make Foul Mdammas Bez-Zeit, and the 510 g to make Foul Mdammas Bel-Laban.

You can use small or medium or large fava beans, but do not cook different sizes together because in this way you will get beans cooked before the others, so choose one size only and use it.

For this dish, you can use fresh fava beans or frozen fava beans, but in both cases you have to use unpeeled fava beans. Also, you can use dried fava beans but you have to soak them overnight (see the method (steps 1 -10 here)), and you can use canned fava beans.

Using fresh fava beans: bring fresh fava bean pods and remove the beans from their pods – classify the beans according to size (small fava beans, medium fava beans, large fava beans), wash fava beans in several changes with water, then use them as directed in the recipe (steps 1 -3), you may need to boil them for a little bit longer time.

Freezing fava beans: bring fresh fava bean pods and remove the beans from their pods – classify the beans according to size (small fava beans, medium fava beans, large fava beans), wash fava beans in several changes with water, blanch them separately (fill a pot with water, salt and some sugar and bring it to boil, then add fava beans for few minutes then plunge into a bowl of cold water), drain and allow to cool then place in freezer bags (as I said store them in bags according to their size, don’t mix them) and store in the freezer. Before cooking, allow frozen fava beans to defrost and use as directed in the recipe above.

I used frozen unpeeled small fava beans. The weight 740 g of fava beans is after blanching, and freezing.

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Foul with yogurt is my mom’s favorite dish; I need to make it soon! there is a lot of fresh foul in the market these days. Great recipes, thanks dimah,are you entering Heni’s contest?(simplicity by the sea?)

Both dishes are beautiful, Dimah. So fresh, healthy and colorful. Right now I can only get peeled fava beans – but I would love to try these dishes. I especially love the ending spices of the paprika and cumin.

I’ve heard of this dish, but haven’t known exactly what it entailed. Now that you’ve spelled it out, I feel compelled to make it asap- It sounds delicious! I wonder if I could make it with fresh fava beans when they’re available, too…

Have you heard of a book called ‘Day of Honey’? Its a memoir, from an American journalist who marries an Lebanese-American and spends a lot of time in Iraq and Lebanon…the reason I mention it is because that is the first place I heard of foul (and its a really great book).
Your foul looks delicious – great photographs too :)

Hi Dimah, thanks for stopping by :) you have an awesome site too and I think I will learn an entire new cuisine from you – Since I don’t see a follow link, I am liking you on FB :) please do follow if you liked what you saw … Would love for you to visit my site more often! thanks and have a blessed day :)

hai dimah,
thanks for your comment and visit..i started blogging recently..Yours looks very wonderful.. This recipes i never tried..Its new to me..I used to cook often south indian food only.. Now i could learn some new recipes from you..

this is the first time i’ve heard of this dish so thank you for posting :) i really would like to try this but am not sure if we have any fava beans in Manila. is there any other kind of beans i can substitute it with?